Dr. John E. Hoover

 Education:

B.S., Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D., State University of New York Health Science Center at Syracuse

Courses Taught:

BIOL 100 – General Biology
BIOL 154 / 155 -- Human Anatomy and Physiology
BIOL 438 – Neurobiology
BIOL 211 – Concepts of Zoology
BIOL 356 – Functional Human Anatomy

Areas of Specialization:

Neuroscience, Physiology

Research Interest(s):

I am a neuroscientist. I study the brain, the organ of behavior. Much of my past research was aimed at understanding the neural control of movement and somatosensation. I used primarily neuroanatomical techniques to reveal the organization of sensorimotor pathways in the cerebral cortex, thalamus, basal ganglia, cerebellum, and spinal cord of mammals. More recently, my students and I have been conducting neuropharmacological studies of valerenic acid (VA), a plant-derived compound reported to reduce anxiety. To test the effectiveness of VA, we have been conducting behavioral experiments in mice.

Selected Publication(s):

Hoffer, Z.S, J.E. Hoover, and K.D. Alloway (2003) Sensorimotor corticocortical projections from rat barrel cortex have an anisotropic organization that facilitates integration of inputs from whiskers in the same row. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 466:525-544.

Alloway, K.D., Z.S. Hoffer, and J.E. Hoover (2003). Quantitative comparisons of the topographic organization in the ventrobasal complex and posterior nucleus of the rodent thalamus. Brain Research, 96:54-68.

Hoover, J.E., Z. Hoffer, K.D. Alloway (2003) Projections from primary somatosensory cortex to the neostriatum: the role of somatotopic continuity in corticostriatal convergence. Journal of Neurophysiology, 89:1576-1587.

2000. Overlapping corticostriatal projections from the rodent vibrissal representations in primary and secondary somatosensory cortex. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 426:51-67. (with K. Alloway, J. Mutic, and Z. Hoffer).

1999. The organization of cerebellar and basal ganglia outputs to primary motor cortex as revealed by retrograde transneuronal transport of herpes simplex virus type 1. Journal of Neuroscience, 19(4):1446-1463. ( with P.L. Strick).

1998. Divergent corticostriatal projections from a single cortical column in the somatosensory cortex of rats. Brain Research, 785(2):341-346. (with K.D. Alloway and J.J. Mutic).

1996. The organization of acromiodeltoid and spinodeltoid motor nuclei in rat spinal cord. Brain Research, 738: 146-149. (with J.Y. Choi).

1994. Input to the primate frontal eye field from the substantia nigra, superior colliculus, and dentate nucleus demonstrated by transneuronal transport. Experimental Brain Research, 100: 181-186. (with J.C. Lynch and P.L. Strick).

1993. Multiple output channels in the basal ganglia. Science, 259: 819-821. (with P. L. Strick).

1993. Evidence for "output channels" in the cerebellum and basal ganglia. In: Role of the Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia in Voluntary Movement. N. Mano, I. Hamada, M.R. DeLong (Eds.). Elsevier Science Publishers, p. 171-180. (with P.L Strick and H. Mushiake).

1992. Retrograde labeling of lumbosacral interneurons following injections of red and green fluorescent microspheres into hindlimb motor nuclei of the cat. Somatosensory and Motor Research, 9: 211-226. (with R.G. Durkovic).

1991. Morphological relationships among extensor digitorum longus, tibialis anterior, and semitendinosus motor nuclei of the cat: an investigation employing the retrograde transport of multiple fluorescent tracers. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 303: 255-266. (with R.G. Durkovic).

1988. Retention of a backward classically conditioned reflex response in the spinal cat. Experimental Brain Research, 77: 621-627. (with R.G. Durkovic).